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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The right to vote is one of the most fundamental | ||||||
3 | rights afforded to American
citizens; and
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4 | WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. proclaimed "The denial | ||||||
5 | of this sacred right is a tragic
betrayal of the highest | ||||||
6 | mandates of our democratic traditions and it is democracy | ||||||
7 | turned upside
down"; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Despite receiving the right to equal protection | ||||||
9 | under the law with the Fourteenth
Amendment and the right to | ||||||
10 | vote with the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States | ||||||
11 | Constitution, ratified
in 1868 and 1870, respectively, African | ||||||
12 | Americans in the country's southern states were
routinely | ||||||
13 | intimidated, harassed, and assaulted when they tried to | ||||||
14 | register to vote; and | ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, On May 17, 1957, in the Prayer Pilgrimage for | ||||||
16 | Freedom, nearly 25,000
demonstrators gathered at the Lincoln | ||||||
17 | Memorial in Washington, D.C. to urge the federal
government to | ||||||
18 | stand by the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 Brown vs. Board of | ||||||
19 | Education decision
declaring segregation in public schools to | ||||||
20 | be unconstitutional; it was at the Prayer Pilgrimage for
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21 | Freedom that a young civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther | ||||||
22 | King, Jr., called for voting rights for
African Americans in |
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1 | his Give Us The Ballot speech, launching the issue to national | ||||||
2 | attention
and introducing Dr. King as the pre-eminent national | ||||||
3 | leader of the civil rights movement; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, While the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended | ||||||
5 | segregation in public places and
ended discrimination on the | ||||||
6 | job, it did not abolish "voter qualification" and thus did not | ||||||
7 | curb the
use of literacy tests, poll taxes, economic | ||||||
8 | retaliation, repression from authorities, and physical
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9 | violence against African-American voters; and | ||||||
10 | WHEREAS, In 1964, many demonstrations were held demanding | ||||||
11 | voting rights for African
Americans, often accompanied by | ||||||
12 | considerable violence against non-violent protesters, bringing
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13 | renewed attention to the issue of the constitutionally | ||||||
14 | guaranteed right to vote; and | ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, On February 18, 1965, while participating in a | ||||||
16 | peaceful voting rights march in
Marion, Alabama, Jimmie Lee | ||||||
17 | Jackson, an unarmed voting-rights protestor, was beaten by
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18 | Alabama state troopers and fatally shot by a state trooper; the | ||||||
19 | tragedy inspired a march from
Selma to Montgomery, Alabama to | ||||||
20 | bring the issue of voting rights to Governor George
Wallace's | ||||||
21 | front door; and | ||||||
22 | WHEREAS, On March 7, 1965, a peaceful demonstrators |
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1 | attempted to march from Selma to
Montgomery, Alabama, only for | ||||||
2 | participants to be attacked at the Edmund Pettus Bridge by | ||||||
3 | state
troopers with billy clubs and tear gas; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, On March 9, 1965, after a second march attempt, | ||||||
5 | civil rights activist James Reeb, a
white Unitarian minister | ||||||
6 | from Boston who had come to Selma with many other clergy and
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7 | sympathizers from around the country, was beaten to death, | ||||||
8 | bringing national calls for voting
rights and inspiring | ||||||
9 | President Lyndon B. Johnson to take action; and | ||||||
10 | WHEREAS, President Johnson called for the Voting Rights Act | ||||||
11 | in front of a joint session of
Congress on March 15, 1965, | ||||||
12 | invoking the words of the protestors as he declared, "We shall
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13 | overcome"; and | ||||||
14 | WHEREAS, Congressman John Lewis of Georgia's 5th | ||||||
15 | Congressional district was pivotal in
the success of the Civil | ||||||
16 | Rights Movement and continues to lead this country as a member | ||||||
17 | of the
United States House of Representatives; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was introduced in | ||||||
19 | the U.S. Senate as S.1564 by
Republican Sen. Everett Dirksen of | ||||||
20 | Illinois and Democratic Sen. Mike Mansfield of Montana on
March | ||||||
21 | 17, 1965; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, On March 21, 1965, protected by 2,000 soldiers of | ||||||
2 | the U.S. Army, 1,900 members
of the Alabama National Guard | ||||||
3 | under federal command, and FBI agents and federal marshals,
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4 | 8,000 people began the 54-mile journey along U.S. Route 80 from | ||||||
5 | Selma to Montgomery; and | ||||||
6 | WHEREAS, On March 25, 1965, 25,000 people completed the | ||||||
7 | march at the steps of the
Alabama State Capitol Building; and
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8 | WHEREAS, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed the U.S. | ||||||
9 | Senate on May 26, 1965, and
passed the House of Representatives | ||||||
10 | on July 9, 1965, and was signed into law by President
Johnson | ||||||
11 | on August 6, 1965; and
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12 | WHEREAS, The fight for civil rights continues throughout | ||||||
13 | the nation today; therefore, be it
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14 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
15 | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
16 | recognize the 50th
Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 | ||||||
17 | on August 6, 2015; and be it further
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18 | RESOLVED, That the State of Illinois honors all of the | ||||||
19 | individuals and organizations that helped
fight for and pass | ||||||
20 | this legislation, as well as the memories of those who died in | ||||||
21 | peaceful protests
for their right to vote.
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